Newsletter-545-August-2016

No. 545AUGUST 2016Edited
by Stephen Brunning

HADAS
DIARY 2016/17

Saturday 3rd
September 10am to 4pm. HADAS Open Day. Hendon Baptist Church Hall,
Finchley Lane, Hendon NW4 1DJ. Display of artefacts from Hendon sites & a
series of brief snapshots of life in Hendon. FREE including refreshments.

Altogether
there are over 50 courses from Family History to Climate Change, plus a couple
on Shakespeare. All are on-line & free. All the material is provided; no
books to buy/ read, essays or exams. Learning is by dialogue with tutors/other
students. All the material is accessible on-line (once enrolled) at any stage,
so it's easy to join late, & catch up if necessary.

An
unexpected interesting by-product with these courses is the chance to converse
with fellow students/ enthusiasts located literally all over the planet!

British
Archaeological Awards winners announced at the British Museum in July

Historian
Bettany Hughes and archaeologist Julian Richards presented awards to some of
the UK's leading archaeologists, showcasing new discoveries up and down the
country that are transforming our understanding of Britain's past.

The
2016 winners reflect the rich diversity of archaeology across the UK, from the
industrial archaeology of the Welsh Slate industry, winner of ‘Best Book’, to
the major discoveries being unearthed Under London and in Cambridgeshire at
Must Farm, which was awarded 'Best Discovery' for reshaping our knowledge of
the British Bronze Age.

In
a presentation about his Highly Commended Stonehenge book, Mike Parker Pearson
reflected on the British public's increasing fascination with the distant past,
fuelled by technological advances, archaeological innovation and new knowledge.

Sharing
the excavation with the public was central to Oxford Archaeology South's
winning Westgate project

-
the largest ever archaeological site in Oxford, while enabling readers to
examine the unique Mesolithic Star Carr pendant for themselves using digital
publishing technologies was the focus of the Postglacial project's electronic
article in Internet Archaeology.

Community
engagement and passion for their shared past shone through the Battles, Bricks
and Bridges project, which brought together archaeology and reminiscing to
identify a previously disputed battlefield site in County Fermanagh and restore
a seventeenth-century bridge, turning villagers' memories of history and
culture into heritage for future generations.

The
excavator of Danebury Hill Fort, the Sacred Spring in Bath and Fishbourne Roman
Palace, Professor Sir Barry Cunliffe CBE, was recognised for his own
exceptional contribution to our understanding of the past with an Award for
Outstanding Achievement. In an inspiring acceptance speech, Barry called
archaeology "a family", saying that archaeologists all shared the
desire to communicate their knowledge and were "creative, vital and
inclusive".

“Archaeology
is such an important part of our nation’s heritage, helping us understand our
culture and how people lived in the past.".

The
Great Stink, London, 1858
Stewart Wild

It's
difficult to imagine living conditions in London 160 years ago, when
overcrowded cities were unhealthy places to live, disease was rife and the
stench of horse manure and human waste was pervasive.

Deaths
from sickness were at a level not seen since the Black Death. In London, with a population of three
million, the problem was becoming a crisis.
Thousands of homes still had stinking cesspits beneath them and in the
poorest areas this vile effluent oozed up through the floorboards.

In
1847 the newly formed Metropolitan Commission of Sewers took action, banning
all cesspits and stating that all privy refuse should be discharged in the
sewers. This added to the waste from the
water closets which had recently become popular among the city's richer
residents.

However
the sewers were little more than storm drains and so the new law simply meant
that all human waste flowed straight into London's rivers and then into the
Thames. As a result, a cholera epidemic
(1848–

49)
killed over fourteen thousand Londoners and the smell over London got
worse. Only essential commercial traffic
continued to ply the river.

Toshers

In
the 1850s and 1860s poor Londoners found a new source of income. Those hardy souls prepared to enter the sewer
outfalls during low tide scoured the mud for old metal, coins, clothes and rags
and anything else that could be sold later.
These sewer-hunters, or 'toshers', as they were known, always travelled
in groups of three or four for safety, armed with a long rake which guarded
against vermin but which could also be used for pulling themselves out when
they got stuck in the mud or sludge.

The
venerable social reformer Henry Mayhew, in his London Labour and the London Poor (fourth volume, 1861) estimated
that this unconventional trade was worth overall around £20,000 a year, a tidy
sum to say the least.

Disraeli's eloquence

Then
in 1858 a long very hot summer made the stench unbearable. Tons of chalk, lime and carbolic acid were
tipped into the Thames but nothing could mask 'The Great Stink'. Sheets were hung on the riverside windows of
the House of Commons and soaked in chloride of lime solution (bleach), to no
avail. Prime Minster Benjamin Disraeli
described the river as "a Stygian Pool reeking with ineffable and unbearable
horror." MPs were forced to act.

Within
eighteen days a bill was passed and the railway engineer Joseph Bazalgette
(1819–91) was tasked with the vast job of building London's sewers, apparently
on the recommendation of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, also of Huguenot descent.

Bazalgette's genius

Bazalgette
and his team began work in 1859 and in the following nine years, and at a cost
of £4.2 million (£500 million in today's money) they built four pumping
stations, 82 miles of intercepting sewers parallel to the Thames and 1,100
miles of street sewers with outfalls at Barking and Crossness; much of this is
still in use today.

The Observer described Bazalgette's work
as "the most extensive and wonderful feat of modern times". The system was officially opened by the
Prince of Wales in 1865 although the whole project was not actually completed
for another ten years.

The
entire network was somewhat over-engineered, with sewer diameters far greater
than was needed at the time, but Bazalgette's foresight together with the
quality of the brickwork and sound Victorian engineering have meant that the
system generally still works well today.

Bazalgette
lived at 17 Hamilton Terrace, St John's Wood;
he is commemorated by a blue plaque that was placed on the house in the
1970s. Towards the end of his life he
moved south of the river, to a house in Arthur Road, SW19, where he died,
perhaps from overwork, in 1891. He is
buried in nearby St Mary's Church in Wimbledon Village where there is a
mausoleum to his memory. There is a
second memorial on the Victoria Embankment, a major part of his subterranean
achievements.

The Three Bridges, SouthallJim Nelhams

Southall
is on the Grand Union Canal as it makes its way to join the Thames at
Brentford. With the building of the Great Western Railway passing through
Southall, chief engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel was charged with constructing
a branch line from Southall to Brentford. This would need to cross the canal as
well as negotiating several roads.

Brunel
calculated that his cheapest option was to pass under the canal at a point
where a road bridged the canal, so that he crossed both with one bridge. Thus
was born the three bridges, a unique construction to this day. The line opened
in 1859 originally using broad gauge though later replaced with two standard
gauge tracks. One track has now been removed.

The
project required Brunel to construct a cast iron trough, eight feet deep,
supported by iron girders on a central brick pier to contain the canal, and his
contract with the Canal Company imposed a fine for every hour that the canal was out of
service.

1877 Ordnance Survey map.

Although
passenger services have been discontinued, the railway still has occasional
freight traffic. The line has also been used for some heritage steam engines,
including Flying Scotsman when it was for a while stationed at Southall Steam
Centre.

Now
there are plans to restore the removed track and reinstate passenger services
by 2020 to link up with the Crossrail service, so Brunel’s innovative bridge
will have an ongoing use.

The
bridge has been used in carefully posed promotional photographs by several
organisations. The picture shows it being used by British Railways, British
Waterways and British Road Services.

The bridge has
been designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Battlefield
Archaeology
Jim Nelhams

A
number of HADAS members attended a talk on 16th June organised by
the Battle of Barnet Partnership and given by Sam Wilson of Huddersfield
University. Sam is the Archaeological Supervisor of the project.

Battlefield
Archaeology, Sam explained, is a sub-set of conflict archaeology dealing in
particular with the sites of battles or in some cases, potential battles. It is
a relatively new discipline which had developed following the invention of
metal detectors. It had been successful in the mid-1980s in America when investigating
the site of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, with the detectors finding lots
of cartridge cases and other military items. Newer technology such as ground
penetrating radar and LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) from aircraft, adding
to aerial photography, helped provide topographical information not always
apparent at ground level.

The
discovery of a battle site should bring together historical documentation, with
topographical

information
and the discovery of battlefield remains, largely metallic in nature. With the
battle of Bosworth Field, the process of proving that the accepted site was
incorrect, and locating the correct site had taken about 5 years. The
conclusion had been confirmed by a cluster of over 30 cannon balls. These were
largely lead – iron does not normally last for long periods in the ground.
Also, there is so much “modern” iron on fields that detectorists set their
machines to ignore it. Once the site had
been found, all the information came together.

As
far as the Battle of Barnet is concerned, it is still early days. Very little
has been found that points to a particular location, but some agricultural land
can only be inspected outside the growing season. The current funding runs to
this August, but it was hoped that more could be found. So watch this space
..... or maybe that one.

The
Abbey Folk Park, New Barnet
Bill Bass

This
site bounded by Park Road and Heron Rise has a fascinating past being founded by
Rev John Ward in 1934. He created a complex mixture of museum, building
reconstruction, experimental archaeology and ethnography. It is said to be one
of the earliest ‘open air’ museums of its kind.

Based
around an existing Victorian Villa called Hadley Hall the most notable
‘reconstruction’ was a medieval tithe barn moved from Birchington-on-Sea, Kent
(this was converted into a chapel which still stands). Other areas in the park
contained an African village, a prehistoric village complete with roundhouses,
smithy, Roman villa and Witches Cottage amongst others. Other structures housed
the museum collection of some 90,000 objects.

The
park ran successfully until 1940 when questions were asked how the museum was
being run – there was a semi-monastic, religious and mystical feel to it. After
a court case the collections were sold to pay costs, Ward took his community to
Cypress where he died in 1949, and the park was sold on to become the Abbey
Arts Centre. Many of the objects were scattered; Liverpool Museum holds a number of Tibetan
figurines known from Ward’s collection. Remarkably 4500 objects made their way
to Australia and now form the Abbey Museum of Art & Archaeology,
Queensland, opened in 1986.

The
New Barnet site has become subject to planning applications for 3-4 two-storey
dwellings on the southern half of the park, the northern half with the chapel,
villa and cottages is unaffected. The latest of the applications dates to
May/June 2016.

For
more information see ‘John Ward: The Man who Collected Houses’, British Archaeology May/June

2016.
Or see the planning application 16/3318/FUL, heritage statement, on Barnet
Council’s website.

Report
of the June 2016 post-AGM Lecture. The Rose Discovered and the Rose Revealed
given by Harvey Sheldon. Written by Liz Gapp and Simon Williams

Harvey
Sheldon, who is president of HADAS, initially gave a brief review of his
involvement with the Rose theatre excavation. Firstly, he was employed by the
Department of Urban Archaeology of the Museum of London, then ultimately he
became chairman of the Rose Theatre Trust formed in 1989, which means he has
more than 25 years involvement with the Rose.

Whilst
this year is widely known to be the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death,
what is less known is that it also is the 400th anniversary of the death of the
man who built the Rose in 1587, namely, Phillip Henslowe, who died on 6 January
1616.

With
a background slide of the uncovered excavated Rose foundations, Harvey gave us
the history of the excavation, which has proved to be very significant to
subsequent excavations. He also described the fight to preserve it for future
generations, preventing its destruction by the builders.

The
excavation started in 1988. An office building, Southbridge house, was to be
replaced, and the developers acceded to requests for excavation. Harvey showed
us various maps on which the Rose's location is indicated. As he said, nowadays
there is much more initial investigation of paper records to evaluate whether
excavation will reveal anything significant. It was fortunate this was not done
so rigorously back in 1988 as maps showing the area at this time had the Rose
at the opposite end of the Rose alley. The discovery of the Rose foundations
was considered so important at the time, when planning laws did not require
archaeological considerations to be taken into account, that Mrs Thatcher
subsequently, as a direct result of this excavation, introduced the
requirement, which included funding, for all subsequent building development
projects.

Originally
a very short period was allocated for the Rose excavation. Leaving it at the
end of the allocated time would have meant that all traces of the Rose would
have disappeared unrecorded. Prior to excavation no physical evidence had ever
been discovered - no shape, plan, or structural details of any theatre. Some Victorian
maps provided the only extant archive, which as previously mentioned was not
always accurate.

Within
4 weeks, segments of the wall appeared, not at right angles, but showing a
polygonal shape. By February 1989, the details revealed had caught public
interest. What had been uncovered were the gallery walls, two phases of the
stage including a 1592 alteration to enlarge the theatre, a floor sloping
towards the stage, and a 14 sided polygonal shape for the original theatre
before enlargement.

The
campaign and publicity accompanying this excavation radically altered the
excavation with more time and money required. It was felt that the physical
remains deserved more than just recording. Amongst other publicity was an
article dated 15 February 1989 in the Times. An added dimension to the
campaigning was the involvement of many famous actors who felt that the history
of the Rose in the theatre world made it very important to preserve it. After
Sir Lawrence Olivier's last public utterance, reported in The Times on 12 May 1989, which included his battle cry of 'God for Harry and the Rose' - he died a few
weeks later - and a star studded campaign, the campaign climaxed with Dame
Peggy Ashcroft leading a candlelit night vigil on the Rose site. On the following
day Mrs Thatcher's Government announced a £1million grant to save the Rose. The
government announced one month's moratorium on the building, the result was
that the developer agreed that the first floor of the new building would be
allocated to display artefacts found during the Rose excavation. These included
broken money boxes for the takings and the broken hazel-nut shell surface of
the internal drainage ditch for the roof run-off into the standing area. The
nutshells may have been a remnant of soap making. All these uncovered artefacts
have certainly pushed forward knowledge of the Elizabethan Theatre.

Before
the building began the site excavation had to be covered over in sand and
concrete, both to protect it from potential damage from the building process
and also because as the site, which was originally a wetland area, began to dry
out the foundations were being damaged, so it was necessary to reinstate the
damper environment.

June
1989 marked the end of the museum's involvement, when it devolved to English
Heritage. In February 1992, the site was granted ancient monument status, so
giving it protection. It was then left until 1999, when a temporary exhibition
was mounted to highlight the theatre footprint in the basement, and to display the
plans being drawn up for its future. Today, it is open for modern tours on
Saturdays. The area which had declined in the 1960s from its late 16th century
roots is now, partly thanks to Tate Modern and other local development,
returned to its former vibrancy.

Opening
the doors of the Rose displays helps with funding for the Heritage Lottery Fund
plan to build a visitor centre which Southwark Council planning department have
approved. This will cost £8million, but to qualify for the grant needs a minimum
lease of 15 years. Since its construction, the Rose Court building has passed
through four owners. The Rose trustees had been negotiating for 18 months with
the latest owners, Ho Bee, when they announced plans to sell the building, so
negotiations are currently on hold. The trustees are now approaching the
government to get pressure to force the lease through.

Harvey
then showed us a series of slides showing the progress of the excavation and
the campaign to raise public profile. This also highlighted the importance of
the Rose which was associated with both playwrights Shakespeare and Marlowe,
and the actor Edward Alleyn.

Papers
from Henslowe's extensive accounts, with connection to the Rose, Marlowe and
Edward Alleyn,

Henslowe's
son-in-law, were endowed to Henslowe's foundation, Dulwich College. Included in
these papers are references to 'turned' balusters (for the galleries) like the
one of fine oak that was found intact on the 'Globe' site.

The
slides included images from late 1988 when the excavation started, showing
early stages of demolition; images from April 1989 with the whole (2/3) of the
Rose building foundations uncovered, showing the drip trench for the gallery
and the change to the theatre slope. (Only 2/3 was excavated as the rest was
not in the excavation area.)

There
were many images showing the actors involved in the publicity campaign on the
site, including Dame Peggy Ashcroft's sit-in. From 2000 to 2001, Susanna York
put on a play to raise funds for the Trust, and there have been other plays
since. There were various images of this. Images showing mock-ups of the future
planning ideas which will happen if the lease issue for the building is
resolved were displayed.

There
is also now an opportunity to excavate the last 1/3 of the Rose foundations, to
confirm (or otherwise) that its shape is as surmised from the 1988/9
excavation, which will come under the same protection as the rest of the
current foundations.

Upgrading
Listed Building descriptions

The
National Heritage for England (NHLE) contains nearly 400,000 entries
(predominantly Listed Buildings) available online from Historic England.
However, the list lacks images and many of the entries, particularly older list
descriptions are very brief and out of date.

Historic
England is aware that there are many individuals and organisations that have a
good deal more information about these buildings and sites than available in
the description in the NHLE entry. To bring this knowledge together with The
List, Historic England has launched Enriching The List (ETL) crowd- sourcing
initiative to open up the NHLE to additional information and images from its
users. This additional content appears after the list entry and separated from
it so it is clear that it is not part of the statutory description. Users can
upload additional information, up to four images per post, and provide links to
other online sources or images. These are then moderated before being published
to ensure that they meet the terms and conditions.

Following
a trial period, the project was launched on 7th June and at the time of writing
over 2,500 contributions have been published, including over 3,000 images. The
feedback from users so far has been overwhelmingly positive with users saying
how easy it is to submit information and photographs and what a great idea they
think it is.

Civic
societies contain a vast resource of knowledge about the heritage of their
local areas, both as organisations and through their individual members.
Historic England is inviting the civic movement to help them enrich The List,
and individuals can sign up as volunteers online.

You
can find out more about the project including how to take part and some of the
content uploaded so far atwww.historicengland.org.uk/etl. If you have any queries or feedback please
email EnrichingTheList@HistoricEngland.org.uk.

The Forth and Clyde Canal (and the
Union Canal) Jim
Nelhams

Some
HADAS members may have noticed our interest in canals. The long HADAS outings
have often included a stop at a canal, and sometimes a ride on a narrowboat. We
have been taking holidays on canal boats for over 30 years (not every year) and
are very interested in their history and their place in industrial archaeology.
This year, we ventured north of Hadrian’s Wall for six days on these Scottish
canals.

The
first act of parliament relating to this canal, received the royal assent on
the 8th of March 1768, making it very early as British canals go, and the first
sea to sea canal in the world. It opened in 1790 and ran from Bowling sea basin
on the River Clyde to the River Carron which flows into the Firth of Forth,
with a short spur into Glasgow. To accommodate seagoing craft, it is wider than
most canals and once operated steamboat trips. For much of its length it
follows close to the Roman Antonine Wall.

The
Union Canal joined the Forth and Clyde at Falkirk, giving access to Edinburgh.
This is a contour canal closely following the 240 feet contour line for over 30
miles, so that the only locks, 11 of them, were in the last half mile where it
dropped to join the Forth and Clyde. One wonders at the surveying that made
this possible.

As
with most canals, the two fell out of use, and both were closed in the early
1960s. The construction of the M9 motorway blocked the end of the canal at the
eastern end, and on the Union Canal, most of the locks were filled in and
housing built on the reclaimed land. So when volunteers wanted to restore and
re-open both canals, they had real challenges to face.

Disused canal
lock

The
Forth and Clyde canal was the easier, though it needed a new exit to the Carron
River, and two other locks had to be replaced. Fortunately, as part of the
Millennium celebrations, Lottery funding was made available to help with both
canals.

On
the Union Canal, a new stretch of canal was excavated, with a staircase of two
new locks, a new tunnel, the first new canal tunnel in Britain for over 100
years. To move boats the 80 feet between the tunnel and the Forth and Clyde, a
magnificent new construction known as the Falkirk Wheel was opened by the Queen
in 2002. The Falkirk Wheel has become a tourist attraction with coach loads
arriving to ride in trip boats on the wheel and through the tunnel.

The
eastern end of the Forth and Clyde is now guarded by the two largest equine
statues in the world, completed in 2013, and about 100 feet tall. Known as The
Kelpies,the
horses’ heads are based on mythical creatures with the strength of 10 horses
and modelled on two Clydesdale horses, the type that hauled the canal barges. The construction is of sheet
steel sections, which at night are lit from the inside in changing colours. Two
smaller copies, a mere 5 foot high, are at the side of the Wheel.

One of the
Kelpies.

Tourists
are also served at the wheel by an appropriately stocked shop, selling among
other things bottles of a local brew branded as “Wheel Ale”!

Saturday 17th
& Sunday 18th September. London Open House
Weekend. Free access to over 800 buildings. Details at www.openhouselondon.org.uk.
Including the Friends of Brompton Cemetery. Guided tours of the chapel
starting at 2pm on both days.

Tuesday 20th
September, 6pm. Gresham College at the Museum of London. 150 London Wall EC2Y 5HN. Queen Victoria. Talk by Prof Vernon
Bogdanor. FREE. Also Wednesday 21st September, 1pm. The Cradle of Stonehenge? Blick Mead - a Mesolithic site in the
Stonehenge landscape. Talk by Prof David Jaques.

Until Friday 30th
September. Stephens House & Gardens
(Avenue House). Hospitals for Heroes. FREE
summer exhibition of Avenue House as a VAD hospital during WW1 and as the RAF
Central Hospital from 1919. Open Tues/Wed/Thurs 1-4.30pm. Sat & Sun
12-4.30pm.